China communist party to probe Wen family wealth: SCMP

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's ruling Communist Party has launched an internal inquiry into allegations made by The New York Times that the family of Premier Wen Jiabao accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches", the South China Morning Post said on Monday.

Wen himself asked for the inquiry in a letter to the Politburo Standing Committee - the party's top decision-making body of which he is also a member - in an apparent move to clear his name, the Hong Kong daily said, citing unnamed sources.

Lawyers for the Wen family have rejected The New York Times' October 26 report, which says corporate and regulatory records show Wen's mother, siblings and children amassed most of their wealth since Wen became Vice Premier in 1998.

"The Standing Committee had agreed to his (Wen's) request," the South China Morning Post said, quoting the sources.

It cited some analysts as saying that Wen's request for a probe showed the premier was keen to use it as a chance to push forward a long-stalled "sunshine law", which would require a public declaration of family assets by senior leaders.

However, Professor He Weifang, a law expert at Peking University, told the Post that he doubted the party's senior leadership would go that far.

"Even if Wen wants to disclose his assets, I don't think other senior leaders, who may also have 'hidden wealth' of their own, will allow him to go ahead, considering the explosive social repercussions," He said.